By Eric Volkman
Publication Date: 2026-01-16 14:45:00
The high-powered duo is teaming up to build and equip a $1 billion research facility in California.
In a corporate partnership many investors didn’t see coming, chip maker Nvidia (NVDA +0.51%) and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly (LLY +0.20%) say they are collaborating to build and operate a joint research lab. This plan was unveiled at the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in January.
The pair, both titans of their respective industries, aren’t typically seen as compatible businesses, but this lab holds great promise for their respective research efforts. Here’s why.
Image source: Nvidia.
A top team
The move might not have been surprising to observant Eli Lilly and Nvidia watchers. After all, last October, the pharmaceutical company announced it had drafted the chip manufacturer to help it build a supercomputer to assist in the early stages of drug development.
Given that, it was not a huge step forward to agree to build the lab together. The companies will allocate up to $1 billion in construction, personnel, and computing costs over a five-year stretch to build, staff, and equip the facility. Its computer “brains” will be powered by Vera Rubin chips, Nvidia’s latest artificial intelligence (AI) processors.
The two companies stated that researchers from each would collaborate in a collective effort to generate new data, helping to train AI models that can advance the drug discovery process.
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